A Flashy A.D.C.

Mrs S finally handed over today’s post to me at 8.15pm (must get her better trained) and there was a package for me from Iain. This was exciting because inside was this very flashy Hinton Hunt British A.D.C – BN/261 A.D.C in cocked hat, holding letter on Horse BNH/4, together with a lovely Minifigs rendition of General Picton.

I like seeing flash metal on my Hinton Hunt castings not just because it confirms that the models are genuine vintage ones (modern copies are much too pristine) but also because it reminds me of the hours I spent in my youth filing away at the misshapen castings supplied direct from Marcus Hinton. Back then I used to hate this chore but now perversely I really enjoy it, perhaps in part because I have a decent set of files and a metal clipper rather than the single blunt file appropriated from my Dad’s tool set.

The British A.D.C figure was one of the ones missing from my collection of General Staff figures and I’m very pleased to have him - I’m thinking that I may paint him up to represent De Lancey. The Duke could certainly do with a reliable Staff Officer after his recent run of bad luck on the battlefield.

The model of General Picton, whilst being outside the scope of this project, is an excellent little figure as well. I’m not sure if this is “S” range or the later range but it is one of the older Minifigs where the rider has the saddle attached to him. This was a clever idea at the time as it meant you had a choice of horses when you ordered (sadly he is currently on foot). The casting must date from before 1972 as I remember ordering ECW cavalry from Minifigs around this time and they were changing to having the saddle with the horse. I would be interested to hear more on this subject if anyone has more precise info - please feel free to leave a comment.

My thanks to Iain for making my day.

Bulow – Take Two

Earlier today I had cause to peruse Clive’s excellent Hinton Hunter Blog when quite by chance I came across the Hinton Hunt painting instructions for the Prussian General I have just completed (click here to see what I mean). Regular readers of this Blog will know that Marcus Hinton produced a typed sheet of painting instructions for each figure he produced – and his research was meticulous.

Now of course I was pretty annoyed with myself for not checking before I painted this one to see if the painting instructions were available, because I got quite a few things wrong. A normal person might have just shrugged and said “so what” it’s painted now, move on - but not me of course. So here’s a picture of him re-touched to conform to the Hinton Hunt guidelines.

In the tradition of those “before and after” pictures they used to have in comics when I was a kid, I thought we could have a little contest. Can you spot five differences between the figure as it appears here and as it appears in the picture in my previous post? Answers on a postcard please, or perhaps just leave a comment.

Prussian General

Continuing with the theme of all things Prussian, I have just painted this one-piece casting of a Prussian General PN64 General (mounted) looking through spy-glass. I know I’ve said it before, but I really do like the Hinton Hunt one-piece mounted figures and I enjoyed painting this one.

I’m thinking of using him to represent General Bulow because it was Bulow’s Corps that were the first of the Prussians to arrive on the scene at Waterloo – reason enough I’d say. He will join Blucher and Gneisenau as representatives of the Prussian High Command in my armies.

Just sneaking into the picture is an Airfix 8^th Army Desert Rat. I think you will agree that I am pretty good at sticking to my Hinton Hunt project but I do have the occasional dabble in other periods. These are amongst the very best of the Airfix figures (that’s my excuse anyway) and yes I may have a tank or two to build but I won’t let that get in the way of finishing off those Prussian Jagers.

Prussian Jagers

I managed to find time to complete these three Prussian Jagers this week. They are PN/28 Prussian Jager (Jackbooted Riflemen), firing. I was aided by the fact that these are actually quite easy to paint being mostly dark colours and having no nasty white straps.

Painting these figures was a particularly nostalgic experience because the first wargame unit I ever painted completely by myself (at the age of twelve) was comprised of these same Hinton Hunt Jagers – although they were all in the advancing position. Back then I used Humbrol Matt Enamel’s with a very limited palette of colours (there wasn’t even a flesh colour available at the time so I used the Gloss shade “Mushroom”) but the finished figures weren’t too bad, all things considered. I’m certainly glad that things have moved on with the introduction of acrylics and the huge colour choice now available.

When I’ve finished the whole unit of 18 figures I will have achieved stage one of this project having two small but balanced forces, enough figures to play a decent game or two. Each army will comprise in units: 6 Infantry, 2 Light Infantry, 1 Heavy Cavalry, 1 Light Cavalry, 1 Horse Artillery and 2 Foot Artillery. Each Infantry and Cavalry unit will be led by a personality figure leaving the Duke and Napoleon free to take overall command of their respective forces.

More French Artillery

Firstly I’d like to wish you all a belated Happy New Year – here’s hoping the Mayans got it wrong and the world won’t be ending in 2012.

I’ve made a promising start to proceedings by painting up another French Artillery crew with the aim of bringing that arm of the Army up to strength. The figures are all vintage ones that I have stripped and repainted and just finished this evening – they still need to be varnished.

The figure in focus is FN/33 Line Artillery Gunner (ramming home). I will post another picture in due course when they have been issued with a cannon and try to get them all in focus.